Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Advent Music Monday

December 7, 2015

That’s right – Advent – we’re not to Christmas Season yet. The Christmas season begins at Midnight at the juncture of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you do Advent you know that yesterday was the second Sunday and the second candle on the wreath has now been lit.

Let’s start the season off with O Come O Come Emmanuel because it is THE Advent hymn. It is like a prayer as well – a prayer uttered by the Israelites as they waited for the Messiah to come. It is a prayer uttered by Christians today as we wait for the Second Coming of Christ. And somehow, this year, maybe we’re praying it a little more deeply given the goings on of late.

O Come O Come Emmanuel was prayed as the O Antiphons in monasteries and convents with a Latin text as early as the 12th century. Whoever wrote it goes unnamed. A couple hundred years later the melody as we know it was added and in 1851 John Mason Neale translated the words from Latin to English.

The O Antiphons start December 17 and go through December 23. Each day we reflect on a different name of the Savior and also the patriarchs of the past – kind of like a mini geneaology if you will. So only one verse is sung and we add another each day. These also coincide with the fourth Sunday of Advent – the last week of preparation before Christmas when the excitement and anticipation of Christmas abounds.

The words here are the traditional ones I’ve always known, and the hymn is richer to me now than it ever was. Sing and pray with me now.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

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» Advent Music Monday » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Advent Music Monday

December 7, 2015

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